The present disclosure relates to isolator devices and, in particular, to isolator devices having laterally coupled interconnect.
Traditional isolators usually are vertically coupled, having a first interconnect on a first layer of a semiconductor package and a second interconnection on a second layer of the package. The vertical coupling arrangement can induce several limitations. First, the vertical isolation between top conducting layer and bottom conducting layer has a predetermined breakdown limitation, which can be controlled by managing the distance between the two points of interconnect. Increasing the isolation in a given design, for example, may require increasing the number of semiconductor layers that are designed into the semiconductor package, which increases cost. Another disadvantage of common vertical coupling arrangements arises because a potential of a bottom conducting layer of the package must be isolated from other layers. Thus, a large number of vertical isolation stacks has to be designed into the isolator, which again increases costs.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an isolator design that reduces the need for large numbers of dielectric layers provided in an isolator.